Islamabad: Pakistan has noted with concern the long-term uranium supply agreement concluded between Canada and India, alongside potential cooperation on small modular reactors and advanced reactor technologies between the two nations.

According to Radio Pakistan, in response to media queries, the Spokesperson of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Tahir Andrabi, stated that Pakistan reiterates that civil nuclear cooperation must be governed by a non-discriminatory, criteria-based approach applicable equally to states that are not parties to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty.

The spokesperson emphasized that selective exceptions undermine the credibility of the global non-proliferation framework and risk further destabilizing regional and global peace and security. Andrabi described the arrangement as yet another country-specific exception in the field of civil nuclear cooperation. He pointed out the irony, given that India's 1974 nuclear test, conducted using plutonium from a Canadian-supplied reactor intended for peaceful purposes, led to the establishment of the Nuclear Suppliers Group. He noted that a state whose actions necessitated the establishment of global export controls is now receiving preferential access under selective arrangements.

Andrabi highlighted that India has not placed all its civilian nuclear facilities under International Atomic Energy Agency safeguards nor undertaken any binding commitment to do so under this arrangement, leaving several facilities outside international inspection. He questioned what concrete non-proliferation assurances, if any, accompany this agreement.

He further expressed concerns over the strategic consequences, noting that assured external uranium supplies effectively release India's domestic reserves for military use. This could enable the expansion of its fissile material stockpiles, accelerate the growth of its nuclear arsenal, and deepen existing asymmetries in South Asia's strategic balance. In this context, the arrangement also challenges Canada's commitment to the international non-proliferation regime and its corresponding obligations under that framework.